The thunderstorm ended, gone as abruptly as it had started. Leif, Zena, Maddox, Electri, and Alexa all came out of their holes.

"Oh thank god, none of us were even injured," Leif sighed. He was clearly relieved. Zena walked over to one of the holes, leaned into it, then came back out with her axe.

"All of our gear is fine," she pointed out. The rest of the group swarmed the holes, grabbing their backpacks and weapons happily. Maddox even slid down into the hole to hand stuff out, since he was the smallest.

"So now what do we do?" Electri asked. Right after she said that, five cannon shots went off, spooking all of them. Maddox fell back down into the hole he was climbing out of.

Alexa held her knife up in front of her face, wiped it on her shirt, then flicked the blade. "At least one of those Tributes died from the thunderstorm. I think that there is another group in the plains. Maddox, check the map. Where is the most likely place they would have gone?"

Maddox unrolled the map, having made his way out of the hole. "Well, based on the fact that they would need fresh water, I would say the lake. What do you have in mind, Alexa?"

Alexa flipped her knife up in the air and caught it, then smiled evilly. "We should go kill them. We have a five person alliance. That's more than a third of the remaining tributes. Plus, we would get sponsorship points. What do you say?"

"It seems like the tactical thing to do," Maddox replied. Electri grinned, and buckled on her explosives.

"I'm up for it. Let's go," she said. Zena agreed wholeheartedly as well, and they set off, with Leif reluctantly following. They took all of their gear, with the clear plan of taking over the lake.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Samson and Dirch were sitting under the tree, eating plants when the group arrived. Samson immediately grabbed his club and stood up, while Dirch tried to hide behind him.

"What do you want? The lake? Our supplies?" he asked, holding his club at the ready. He tossed his backpack to them, and tightened his grip on the club. "Take it. We'll go". Zena laughed, and advanced forward.

"Why would we do that? No, I think I'll be the one to kill you," she taunted. "It won't be hard". Before she could react, Samson ran forward and clubbed her in the head with an unnatural speed. She fell to the ground, blood streaming from the wound, and a cannon went off.

"I don't think so," he growled, steadying his club. He faced the other four with his head held high, challenging them. "Anyone else?" Leif reluctantly readied his axes, since Maddox and Electri depended on trapping, and Alexa was more of stealth fighter. But before he could charge at Samson, a knife was buried in the large boy's chest. Samson fell to the ground, convulsing and foaming at the mouth. Then he stopped moving, and another cannon went off. Leif looked to Alexa in shock, as she calmly walked over, pulled the knife from Samson's chest, and wiped the blood off on the tree.

"What are you waiting for, Leif? Go get Dirch," she ordered, motioning to the small boy who was currently sprinting away. In one smooth motion, Leif turned and threw one of his axes. It buried itself in Dirch's back, and another cannon shot went off. As Leif went to collect his axe, Alexa slid her knife into its sheath.

"Well, we might as well make camp here. Let's start by setting up the shelter," she suggested. She was clearly unfazed by the brutal murder of Zena, and how she had poisoned Samson. Electri and Maddox were not about to argue with her. They went to work.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Glint looked up from his meal, hearing three cannon shots in quick succession. He turned to Benir, who was also eating.

"Wonder where that was. Right after those other two, too. Probably the plains," he said. Benir shrugged, and took a sip of his water.

"Doesn't matter, as long as it's not us," he replied. Glint nodded, and the two boys went back to eating.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ripley, Maximus, Avila, Thoren, and Flink were relaxing happily on their island, eating some fish that Ripley had caught. There was plenty of food, water, and shelter on the island, and they didn't have to worry about predators or other tributes.

The cannon shots went off, startling Flink and Ripley. The group looked out across the water, trying to see if they could spot anything.

"Well, I guess we'll find out who died tonight," Maximus said, nonchalantly returning to a relaxed position. He grabbed another portion of fish, and started to eat it.

"Let's hope it was some of the more powerful people. I'm afraid of what might happen if we all end up meeting in one bloody battle," Ripley muttered. None of the others said anything more after that.

Now we're down to our final three groups. You know what that means . . . it's time to start pushing the tributes together. A feast will be happening in a few days' time (we'll be skipping the days between now and the feast). PM me to discuss your options for the feast. Also, if you're inactive, your character will be killed. That's what happened to Zena. Sponsorship points will be even more important now, so you may want to contact me about ways to use them to get an advantage.